They were called to the garage in Stevens Road at 9.20pm, with crews from Cromer, Sheringham and North Walsham helping to douse the flames.

And at just after 3.30am, two crews from Thetford were called to a fire at a building on Thetford’s Forest Retail Park, although that had been put out before the service arrived.

The night also saw more wildfires in the open, along with a string of false alarms because people, despite pleas from the fire service, had lit bonfires.

At 10.42pm, crews were called to a grass fire on Mousehold Heath - the 21st such call the service has had since the start of June. The 22nd call came at just after 7am today.

At 6.43pm, firefighters from Methwold and Diss dealt with a fire in the open at Harling Road. and at much the same time, their colleagues from Harleston doused flames next to the A143 bypass.

Fire bosses recently urged people not to have bonfires or campfires, but the message has not got across to everyone.

A crew from Gorleston went to reports of a blaze at Halvergate at just before 10pm, but it turned out to be a false alarm because of “controlled burning”.

At 10.25pm, a crew from Sprowston was called to a fire in open at Bacton Road, to discover it was a false alarm caused by a bonfire.

It was a similar story a few minutes later, when an Earlham crew went to reports of a fire on Wilberforce Road, which was another bonfire.

Earlier this week, Garry Collins, head of protection and prevention at Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service, said: “Open fires can quickly spread and endanger life.

“Some of these incidents were not intentional but if you are somewhere and a fire starts, it is hugely important that you call 999 as quickly as possible to prevent a small fire becoming a bigger fire.

“We continue to ask the public not to start camp fires and bonfires in these tinder dry conditions. Please heed the current advice and suspend all use of naked flames and take extreme care when discarding cigarettes.

“The impact of these careless acts presents a huge risk to lives and property and many of the recent fires could have been avoided.”